Time to redesign this garden

Pain relief

Gardening can be hard on the body! While I enjoy the workout I get when gardening, sometimes I overdo it. My right knee has been aching, so I tried Salonpas pain relief patches. They feel warm and really do relieve the pain.

Path finished!

Finally finished the path next to the retaining wall!  We hauled in 3 small (Ford Ranger) loads of class 5 gravel to fill it in.  I chose gravel because there is an incline and mulch would have probably washed down the hill.

Now, to connect this bed to the existing landscaping.  The black hose shows where the edge of the bed will be.  There is a secondary path that leads to a gate in the fence around the vegetable garden, edged in rock.  I moved some irises that were in a bad spot (blocking the sprinkler head) and planted a couple of peonies that a neighbor gave me.  I have some other pressing projects, so this probably won't be fully planted before winter.

My mantra these days is - get plants in ground!!

The weather is gorgeous for early October, so I plan to take advantage and plant, plant, plant! (When I'm not work, work, working!)

 

Minnesota mums

Love these Minnesota-hardy mums!!

Grasses

 Silver Feather grass adds some nice fall color to the garden, as do the Autumn Joy Sedums in the picture below.

Tannenbaum Mugo pine

This is the evergreen that I chose to add some variety to my front border - the Tannenbaum Mugo Pine.  It will get to be about 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide.  One of the nice things about Mugo pines is that you can control the size by cutting back the new growth in the spring by one third to one half. 

They are interesting little trees - their trunks are a bit crooked.  One of the reasons I chose them is because they aren't affected by winter burn as so many of the smaller evergreens are.  One of the drawbacks is that they are affected by sawfly larvae, and we had some problems with those a couple of summers ago.  I'll have to keep an eye on these to deal with any pests quickly.

Secret garden - just about done

All that is left is to add mulch and maybe a few more plants (and some spring bulbs)  near the cherry tree.  Oh, and I've started calling this my fairy circle - so maybe some fairies will come to dance in these flowers.  Most of what I've added here has been moved from other spots.

Today it is going to be too hot to garden, so I am heading to Bachman's Garden Center to find my evergreens for the front border!